Wall and ceiling construction



1 G. c. WRIGHT 2,307,653

WALL AND CEILING CONSTRUCTION Jan. 5;1943.

Filed May 7, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Gears e CWW'ES fl f Jan. 5, 1943. G. c. WRKGHT V WALL AND CEILING CONSTRUCTION 3 Sheets-She Filed May 7, 1940 Jan. 5, 1943. e. c. WRIGHT I WALL AND CEILING CONSTRUCTION Filed May 7, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet G-QIQYSQ Charl es NT'OQ,

Patented Jan. 5, 1943 WALL AND CEILING ooNs-rnUo'rroN i George Charles Wright, London, England, assign or to Gyproc Products Limited, London, Eng- 1 land, a company of Great Britain Application May 7, 1940, Serial n issa'uo In Great Britain May 10, 1939 I Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in supporting means for supporting panels of slab material in ceiling and wall constructions.

An object of this invention is to provide improved means for supporting panels constituting a wall covering or a ceiling in such a manner that the exposed surface will present a series of panels surrounded by apparently uninterrupted metal-panel-strips with a minimum amount of thickness showing.

Another object is to provide panelsupporting means and panel supporting members that can be erected with a minimum of skilled labour and in such a manner that the construction can be classified under the heading of dry technique unit construction. 7

The panel supporting means according to the present invention comprise panel supporting members of I-cross section, between the flanges of which the borders of the panels are housed on one or both sides of the Web, the flange of said panel supporting member which is adapted to lie above or behind the panels being of hollow or box section with a slot therein by means of which hangers or fixing members, adapted to be attached to the joists, purlins, studding or like structure members, can be engaged with the hollow flange for the purpose of holding the panel supporting member in position, and the other flange of said panel supporting member presenting an unbroken outer surface.

'Ihe slot in the upper or rear flange of the panel supporting member is preferably continuous'throughout the length of the said members.

The web of the I-section panel supporting member may be hollow and accessible from the hollow upper flange, so that the hanger member used to support the panel supporting member may be provided with an extension which is housed within said hollow web.

The panel supporting member is preferably formed of sheet metal strip, folded longitudinally to give it the desired form and in the lower or exposed flange of the panel supporting member the metal strip is preferably folded flat on itself, so as to form a substantially solid exposed flange which will present a panel strip of minimum depth.

Examples of the panel supporting means according to the present invention are illustrated in the drawings filed herewith.

Fig. 1 shows a view in perspective of the top of a ceiling structure according to this invention with the slab panel material in position.

Fig. 2 is a view of the same ceiling portion as seenfrom below. j, i i

Fig. 3 is "an end'view of the panel supporting member, 'showingfits upper hollow flange with a'continuous slot in the said hollow flange and also the'hollow webof the member. 1 j

Fig. 4 shows in perspective the end of a panel supporting member with a' dowel of T '-cr'oss sec- .tion inserted in the hollow web and flange, in-

dicating the method of connecting one supporting member ,to' another en'djto end' to provide an apparently continuous 'panel' 'st'rip on the'exposed face of the ceiling orwall'; v Fig. 5 shows a hanger blank pierced ready for bending, punched from a metal strip.

Fig. 6 shows side and end views of the hanger a after bending, with fins a fixing lug a and stiffening. flange outstanding from the top edge of the hanger at an angle of p Fig. '7 is a perspective view of an alternative form of panel supporting member of I-cross'section with a solid instead of a hollow web,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a hanger member for use with this panel supporting'memb'er.

.Fig. 9 is a perspective view of an alternative form of hanger member. 1 I, 1

Fig. 10 is a perspective view'showing'ce'iling panels supported on the underside of [a steel purlin by means of panel supporting members according to the present invention, with one hanger of the type "shown in Fig. 9 and another hanger of'alternative form. I A I Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing ceiling panels carried on a wood purlin, with a hanger of the type shown in Fig. 8. and another hanger resembling that Shownjin Fig. 10. p 1 I Fig. 12 "shows a form of dowel for making an abutting join betweenkpanel supporting members. Fig. 13 shows a portion of a ceiling, seen from the underside, comprising a number'ofpanel's as supported on .steelpurlins in accordance with the present invention.

In carrying out the invention for ceiling construction, as illustrated in Figs, 1-6, a panel supporting member I) (Fig. 3) is used formed by folding and bending a sheet metal strip into I- section, with solid lower flange b hollow web' I) and box section upper flange 12 The hangers a are inserted in the hollow housing of the panel supporting member b and pushed along the slot b until each one engages a structural framing member 0, which may be in turn supported upon the floor joists as by a strap device a: the form and arrangement of which is clearly indicated in Fig. 1. The outstanding fixing lug a of the hanger is then bent downwards to lock the hanger and panel supporting member in position.

The lower end a of the stem of the hanger a is housed within the hollow web I) of the panel supporting member b.

The outstanding fins a are housed within the hollow upper flange b of the panel supporting member b.

The solid flange b of the panel supporting member b supports the panels of slab material (I as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The hollow web b and hollow flange b provide a housing for dowels e (Fig. 4) so that sup-' porting members b can be butt-jointed to form an apparently continuous panel strip in alignment.

In Figures 7 and 10-13, the panel supporting member b has a closed or solid web between the upper and lower flanges and the slot 12 is made somewhat wider than in the design shown in Fig. 3. The box section upper flange, and the solid lower flange are indicated by references b and Z7 The hanger member a shown in Fig. 8 for use with this panel supporting member is adapted to be nailed to a wooden purlin and is made from metal strip, oppositely directed lugs 11 and a being formed by cutting the metal and' bending it, leaving a neck a adapted to pass freely along the slot b of the panel supporting member, while the lugs 41 and a engage within the box section flange of the said supporting member.

In Fig. 9 the hanger member a is of strip metal bent to inverted U-shape with flanges a at the open side and slotted at a toengage the flange of a steel purlin f as shown at the left hand end of Fig. 10, while the flanges a engage in the box section upper flanges of the panel supporting member.

The U-form hanger may be fitted with a pivoted latch 11*, as shown in the design of hanger a at the right hand end of Fig. 10.

Fig. 11 illustrates at the left hand end a hanger member a as in Fig. 8 attached to a' wood purlin g, while at the other end is a hanger member a with tilting latch engaging a bracket h nailed to the purlin.

The dowel e shown in Fig. 12 consists of a piece of strip metal humped longitudinally at e, adapted to be slid into the ends of abutting panel supporting members to hold them in accurate alignment.

Both the hanger members and the dowels may be notched as shown at a and 6' respectively, and when they are in position in the panel supporting members, the flanges of the latter may be deformed or squeezed by pliers as indicated for example at a in Fig. and e in Fig. 12, to hold the hangers and dowels against displacement.

In carrying out the present invention I may CPI construct the panel supporting members for example, of rust resisting rolled steel strip, 20 B. W. G. thick, to support plaster boards thick ofasizel' by 8'.

In any of the above described arrangements it will be seen that the box section flange of the panel supporting member need be of no great depth interiorly and this facilitates the crushing or nipping of the box section flange to hold the hangers and dowels. If the lower flange is formed of the strip closely folded on itself, it has relatively small thickness and consequently protrudes very little beyond the inner surface of the ceiling (or wall) panels.

The only panel supporting members which will usually be hung to the constructional supports (purlins or the like) are those laid along the long edges of the plaster panels. Between the narrow edges of the panels similar I-section metal strips are inserted to conceal the panel edges and to give the desired appearance.

I claim:

1. Means for anchoring panels to a structural framework, comprising panel edge supporting strips of substantially .I-section and including a web portion and flange portions at opposite ends of said web and spaced apart sufliciently to embrace the edges of the panels, the flange at one end of said web being of box-section and being slotted throughout its length along the side remote from the web portion, and hanger members having body portions adapted to be secured to the structural frame work and provided with end portions bent at right angles to said body, portions and passed into and along said slotted box section flange portion of said panel supporting strip, said body portion extending from the slotted sides of said box section flange.

2. Means for anchoring panels to a structural framework, as claimed in claim 1, in which said panel supporting strip comprises a thin sheet metal folded and bent to form the beam of substantially I-section.

3. Means for anchoring panels to a structural framework, as claimed in claim 1, in which the other flange of said panel supporting strip is solid.

4. Means for anchoring panels to a structural framework, as claimed in claim 1, in which said panel supporting member comprises sheet metal folded over on itself at its midportion to form a solid flange and then the two adjacent portions project perpendicularly to the solid flange to form the web and finally the ends are turned outwardly then upwardly and inwardly towards each other to form the said box flange.

5. Panel supporting means as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hanger means comprises a plate bent to form a right angle, one leg of said plate engaging said slot in said flange and the other leg of said plate being disposed for attachment to studding.

GEORGE CHARLES WRIGHT. 

